Where there is a Flame
by songbird'ssmile
Summary: "Aurora can't help but wonder if Mulan can feel it too..." based on the song "Try" by Pink. SleepingWarrior
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: OUaT definently not mine other wise the entire show would revolve around Sleeping Warrior and Rumbelle**

**I also do not own "Try" by Pink wich this fict is based on.**

**A/N: This will be part one of three or four-ish chapters**

**now onto the fict ;)**

**Part One: Where there is desire, there is gonna' be a flame**

"Aurora watch out!" shouted Mulan as the princess narrowly misses slipping off a mossy rock and falling into the gushing rapids. Aurora grips Mulan's arm like it's her life line and neither of them move for what seems like hours as the stream rushes around them.

"Thanks," Aurora breaths, finally, as Mulan slowly let go of her so she can regain balance. For a second Aurora seems to miss the contact of the warrior's strong arms but soon common sense takes over and she realizes that they have to keep moving if they're going to make to the Mountains by night fall. Of all the places that survived the curse it was the most secluded and there they had a hope of finding someone who could help them in their quest for Philips soul.

Philip's soul…

She'd give anything for him to be alive again. She needs to see him alive again. He was her true…

She paused; thoughts were clouding her mind. To call him her true love just didn't seem righty any more. She still loved him of course. She'd always love him, but lately she felt like things had changed.

She and Philip had been best friends ever since she could remember. They did everything together. It seemed so natural to fall in love. Every kiss they shared, every look, every touch; there was a connection between them that ran deep. It was love but not the kind you read about in storybooks. His touch never felt like fire; she never saw sparks when they kissed. Even the kiss that woke her, true loves kiss. Surely that would have had to make her feel something, but when she opened her eyes she just saw the same Philip and she was the same Aurora. She loved him, a lot… but maybe she was starting to see it was a different kind of love that woke her.

She'd heard once from her childhood friend once speak of such a love. She been a maid from the islands off the coast of Greece and she told stories about other types love. There were four she knew, love between lovers, love between mother and child, god's love and love between close friends. Philia she called it, there were no translations in English that she deemed accurate. It's like true love but it's different, like that between two friend, stronger than and normal friendship, a beautiful feeling but not romantic. Philia that's how she chose to define what her and Philip shared.

But there was something different she felt for her raven hair companion. Even now, Mulan's hand as it wrapped around hers, pulling her through the tangled web of forest, seemed to set her whole being ablaze with feeling. Not only now but every time they touched it felt like an open flame. She'd like to accredit it to the warrior's naturally warm skin but every time her mind tried to convince her of that her heart dismissed it.

The spark between them left Aurora to wonder, whether that same spark would exist were their lips ever to meet.

It wasn't just Mulan touch that was warm though, her eyes, her words. The warrior herself seems immune to the flames she reside in, sanctuary for passion she felt and a barrier between herself and the world. She was on fire.

Aurora only watched in awe, her heart full of questions and her lips to hesitant to ask and every time she was near Mulan all her questions turned to smoke.

Then suddenly the loss of Mulan's hand around hers brought her back to the real world and out of her thoughts.

"I believe we should stay here for the night, the mountains aren't to fare from here but it'll be too dark to travel long before we reach them." said Mulan decisively. Aurora nodded not really knowing if Mulan was right but trusting the warriors judgment enough to believe her.

"I'll get some fire wood, before we settle down for the night, then." said Aurora. Between the two of them Aurora was always the one to collect fire wood. She hadn't been sent to collect food since she came back with poisonous berries and a hand full of questionable mushroom to which Mulan believed they were better safe than sorry.

"It's just the two of us Aurora and I really don't think we should split up in these woods; we can both go. I'll look for edible plants, and you can collect fire wood." Aurora nodded and extended her hand to take Mulan before the other woman had even offered. Realizing her mistake she took back her hand and tried to make it look like she was reaching for a branch near the woman's feet.

"It's okay you know," said Mulan hesitantly "If it will make you feel safer, you could hold my hand."

"_So, she had noticed_" thought Aurora, before brushing off the subject.

"It doesn't matter we'll need our hands free any ways" Aurora says trying not to look embarrassed not that the other girl would have been able to see her blush in this light.

They collect fire wood and food in silence, which is only a prelude to an even more awkward makeshift meal of berries and nuts. The fire is making up for most of the talking as it roars in the quiet of the forest. Aurora can still feel its warmth even when the flames have turned to embers. They lie next to each other like always in an attempt to keep warm but for some reason tonight the heat seems suffocating.

There are so many questions in her mind…

It's become second nature for her to brush of her feeling for the girl lying next to her, but now each word she speaks without saying how she feels sound like a lie.

She just doesn't understand how someone like her could go from believing she loves Philip to maybe believing she loves someone else.

"_Maybe it's better; maybe it'd be easier_" she thinks "_if she didn't ask why."_

**A/N: Well I've found my new favorite ship, and i will go down with it no matter what anyone says. Even the monkey...**

**Can't wait for OUaT to be back so i can decide on whether or not to pack a life preserver.**

**Please Review - Song ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUaT or "Try" they belong to their respective owners.**

**Part Two: Where there is a flame, someone's bound to get burned**

Mulan listens to the princess's heart beat as it evens out and her shoulders relax. She glad at least one of them can find solace in sleep tonight. She's glad Aurora nightmare have lessened and she feeling like she can sleep for what seem like the first time since she meant her. She waits, and tries to soothe her tire mind with the soft sounds of the forest night. There a gentle heat being coming from the fire that dying next to them and Aurora body lies in front of her safe from harm. She should be at ease. She should sleep they have many miles to travel tomorrow, but no matter how tightly she closes her eyes she can't sleep.

She no stranger to this feeling, the tightness in her chest, the heat beneath her skin, the pounding of her heart in her ears. She felt this before but then she'd been wrong, so wrong. She'd sworn to herself long ago to leave such feeling behind. Still here it was, rising from the embers, a single flame of desire.

She know better than this, she does. She knows she shouldn't fall for someone she can't have, not again. There are scars on her heart from when the fire rose to high and burned her for her feeling. She learned many times before it's better to keep quiet, put you emotions to rest and focus on the world around you. Be wary of attacks and never let you guard down, that's what she knew that was how she was trained. Naivety doesn't make it far in the real world.

But Mulan's not naïve, she's been here before; she knows this feeling, but this time it seems different somehow. It's not a harsh blinding flame that takes her beings and leaves her defenseless; it's gentle and inviting. She wants to trust, but she just can't.

Mulan exhales a deep breath in to the cooling night air and she finally falls in to a troubled sleep filled with images of the princess and flames that shouldn't exist.

The next morning Mulan awoke before the princess and decided to find a place to refill their canteens before they moved on. She found a small creek and filled both the containers before drinking a hand full herself. She sat by the creek for a moment savoring the taste of fresh water and watch in the current of the water. She looked at the fast moving water and tried to will her thoughts to disappear with the stream. They didn't.

Once she made her way back to camp, she was surprised to find Aurora already awake and stoking the fire. Mulan hoped nothing bad had happened to make the girl wake up.

"I couldn't sleep." Explained Aurora, which wasn't much of an explanation because Mulan knew she had gone to sleep long after the princess had. Still something was troubling her and Mulan knew enough to be concerned.

"What's wrong?" asked Mulan. "Was it nightmares again…?"

Aurora shook her head and Motioned for Mulan to sit down next to her.

"It's nothing like that…" Mulan looked at the other woman. She was acting strangely but she couldn't place why. "Mulan, why did you go and get my heart from Cora?"

Mulan looked at the princess, the answer seemed obvious.

"To protect you; I swore I would and I did. I will always." said Mulan. It was a practiced response. She knew by heart. It was something she repeated like a mantra in her head. It was her greatest excuse for everything she did for Aurora.

"Is that really the only reason?" said Aurora there was something shining in her eyes that Mulan tried to ignore. Mulan nodded she couldn't trust her voice.

"Oh," said the princess. "I just wanted to know…"

There was a moment of silence, before Mulan turned her eyes to the fire, "We should put it out" she said "Before we leave."

Aurora nodded solemnly. Looking at the flames that's had hardly had a second chance at life.

"We should…" she agreed. Mulan thought she saw something cross the other woman's face for a second before she felt arms wrapping around her and pulling her face toward the princess. Their lips met for only a few seconds before Mulan pulled away. She looked at the princess, she knew this feeling, but she just couldn't allow herself to get burned again.

"I'm sorry Princess Aurora but you and Philp and I- I can't… I am sorry Princess" she stuttered out.

Mulan went to get their things, trying not to look at the woman's glistening eyes and to ignore her own beating heart. She willed her unshed tears to douse the flames rising in her heart, but they were too high already. She was burning alive.

**A/N: All this talk about burning and flames is reminding me of the time I set fire to the rain, or was that Adele. I set fire to the microwave one time, but I guess that different. This author's note isn't really going anywhere… so Please Review and never put metal in the microwave. – Song ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: i don't own OUaT**

**Part Three But just because it burns, doesn't mean you're gonna die**

"I'm sorry Princess Aurora but you and Phillip and I- I can't… I am sorry Princess" and just like that Mulan left her, a few feet away couldn't have felt further to Aurora. She sat there for a minute on the cold ground letting the loss of the other woman sink in. There was a sting of rejection in the air and the taste of heart break in her mouth. But the kiss, the kiss had been perfect. There was no way the warrior hadn't felt that. Was there? Aurora prayed with every ounce of her being she hadn't been wrong. Had she been the blind one? Did she just imagine Mulan's affections?

And what of Philip? Perhaps she'd just been starved of love so long she'd been mistaken…

Aurora asked these questions of herself, wondering if the flame she imagined was only an illusion.

Aurora didn't want it to be true. It wasn't true. She couldn't have imagined the way Mulan looked at her. She hadn't made up the warrior's affections for her, and she certainly hadn't invented her own from thin air. She knew love when she saw it, when she felt it, and this was so real, she'd thought.

There was still a fire in Mulan's eyes when she looked at her but it was restrained. Mulan didn't look her eyes again and didn't speak other than to tell her direction if she strayed too far from their route.

Sometimes Aurora would stray, so only to hear the other woman's voice. She needed her to talk, not because they seemed to be the only ones left in this land but because she need confirmation that the warrior was still there, even if she was acting so distant.

Aurora didn't want to forget the kiss but she wished Mulan had. It'd been a three days now, three days without the other woman speaking to her or acting anything other than quietly respectful to her.

She was waiting for Mulan to yell at her. Waiting for her to tell her she ruined things between them. Mulan could tell the princess she hated her and it would make her feel better at this point. At least she'd know the warrior felt something about her even if it wasn't love. The silence was driving her insane, and in some ways she blamed herself.

Maybe she had ruined it; maybe kissing her was wrong. But every time Aurora brought that question to mind her heart always told her no.

It been the second day of searching the mountains and no one seemed to be there. The land was barren and destroyed. The tree line seemed to end before the mountain even began. They were all alone in this world and they couldn't even talk to each other.

"We should stay here for the night and continue searching in the morning." Mulan said determinedly.

She said nothing more than what she needed to, and yet somehow didn't say what she truly needed to at all. They'd found a spot by a rocky alcove in the mountain. It took only a second before Mulan left to see if she could find some small game to kill, and Aurora got to work on the fire. She gathered the kindling and placed some dry brush in top of it. She took her time making a ring with stones around the pile and retrieved the piece of flint and limestone from Mulan's bag. She struck one against the other trying to make a spark but it wouldn't. She tried again but nothing happened. She smashed the two rock tougher over and over again willing them to make a fire but they wouldn't. a few minutes later, Mulan found her curled up by the unlit camp fire her knees pulled up to her chest and tears streaming down her face.

The spark rocks had been thrown away in frustration and were laying a few feet away from her. Mulan rushed over to Aurora immediately, forgetting that she'd been trying to keep her distance.

"It won't light;" muttered Aurora "No matter what I do it won't light. It's like I'm doing something wrong. What am I doing wrong?" Mulan squeezed the other woman shoulder tightly before reaching over to pick up the rocks. After a strike or two a spark flew from the stoned into the brush and began to smoke.

Fanning the growing flame Mulan sits back down next to the princess, not willing to leave her side but not trusting herself to say anything to Aurora. While Mulan was gone looking for food she had come across a rabbit and she decided to start preparing it to be roasted over the rising flames.

"Please." Aurora said softly as Mulan skewered the rabbit and placed it over the fire. "Please talk to me, Mulan."

Mulan looked down, "What's wrong, Princess?"

"Look at me!" demand Aurora taking the warrior hand in her own and pulling the other woman to face her "This is what wrong… My name is Aurora and your name is Mulan. You know me… and I thought I knew you. But lately you've ben acting like were something less than strangers."

"I need you to say something anything please." Aurora looked to the warrior; her eyes pleading with her.

"Prin- Aurora I-I can-" Mulan stuttered out.

"You can't. I know. I've heard, but I need you to say something. I need t know if you hate me." Mulan's eyes shot up to look at her.

Hate her? Was that what Aurora thought. Mulan could never hate her, no matter how long she lived.

"Fine say nothing," Aurora grew frustrated. "I'll speak; I tell you everything. I know love, Mulan. But there are many kinds of love, even true love. I loved Philip but he was my friend, Mulan, I kept trying to feel as if I love him romantically but I couldn't. That wasn't how we loved each other, but…" Mulan eyes flickered with fire light, were these thing even possible, could Aurora really love another. She had no idea but she'd like to believe it.

"I love you Mulan, and it is so different from how I felt about Philip. Didn't you feel it when we kissed? We are meant for each other." Aurora could see the hope in Mulan's eyes. The warrior wanted to believe her so badly but she was holding herself back from the flames.

"I love you too, but I am terrified" said Mulan quietly; Aurora wasn't even sure she heard her correctly. The bravest woman she knew was afraid, for once. The woman who vowed to go up against Cora to get her heart back, who fought with the walking dead and didn't flinch, who risked the wrath of Snow White to try to save her. The woman she thought was fearless was afraid of love.

"You don't have to be afraid," said Aurora meeting Mulan eyes. "I'll keep you safe."

Aurora knew that was a promise she could keep, there wasn't much she was suited to protect her from but as long as she lived and loved her, she'd make sure love could never hurt the warrior.

Mulan held Aurora's gazed for a long moment every inch of her wanted to believe the words Aurora had told her (and in her heart she knew she did).

"Always," repeated Mulan. Aurora wasn't sure if it was a stamen of a question but she agreed. Aurora moved closer to Mulan so she could feel the warm caress of the warriors to quick breathing. They were so close now that when they kissed it was like two flames meeting, neither were burned rather they became one and shined more brightly than ever before.

**A/N: this is almost done i still have a epilouge and i promise to post it asap but right now i have a lot of homework to atend to with midterms coming up and i'm producing and original play so i won't post untill the weekend. Sorry...**

** Please Read and Review - Song ;)**


End file.
